Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I tend to go more towards the side Kevin is arguing in all of this, only because I don't know of an easy answer. Would people be ok if taxes skyrocketed for more programs, like the maternity leave program in Australia? Would people be ok if other programs were cut in favor of increased funding for the homeless? Do people want all their paychecks to go to taxes? Do you put your energies on the older people who are now homeless, or do you focus more on the children and teens who have an opportunity to turn around their lives?

We ought not spend our hard earned money on folks who did not earn money in their lifetimes. Those people are wastes of oxygen in my opinion. I'll bet if we quit giving them $21/week in food stamps, they'd get jobs... or they'd die.

With all the suffering in the world, someone kicking off because they were too lazy to do the sort of work Americans won't do doesn't bother me so much.

I don't know, I just don't see it as an easy issue. I agree with Monet that education is a huge (probably the biggest) part in this whole thing.

I agree. This is one reason I'm a HUGE supporter of NCLB. Our schools are basically our first lines of defense against poverty. I'd like to see the KIP (Knowledge Is Power) program used in more places. We have one here in probably the poorest part of town in OKC. The school is 96% minority. Those kids go to that school from 7:30AM to 5PM. They have at least 3 hours of homework every night. Despite the fact that they're basically all poor, 85% of these kids go to college.

I have no problems investing my money in education. I do have a problem investing my money with people who merely want my money so that they may continue to not miss their daytime TV.